Manchester: Passenger Reviews, Q&A, and Travel Advice

[LS@MAN]

I wondered if you'd read LS@MAN's post properly. More time was spent checking in (30 minutes) by the handling agent than the total of 25 minutes for security. He didn't actually say the bag was rejected for no reason. He said no reason was given so presumably he didn't ask. Yes, it would be nice if check-in and security was no more than 30 minutes but given some of the delays in recent times, it didn't strike me as too bad an experience.

Yes, so just to clarify. The bag was rejected but I didn’t ask…as it was quiet and I wasn’t at all stressed, I personally decided against asking, the friendly security guy processing the rejected bags was working as hard and fast as he could.

The document checks at check in was the biggest wait…roll on when these are not required!

It was an hour in total from arrival at check in to I got into T3 airside…that did include a stop at boots.

 

[LS@MAN]

And to add to my above posts…I’ve tweeted a positive experience at MAN today and tagged the airport in this tweet…not enough praise is given, only the bad experiences!
Normality is returning at last…but will take time for businesses to catch up!

 

[LS@MAN]

Spent the weekend in Manchester visiting friends and watching Man United (actually win for a change!).

Arrived on a Ryanair 737 MAX (first time for me) from Carcassonne on Friday at 7.30pm, just over an hour late due to the aircraft being delayed earlier in the day at MAN...marshalled onto stand 48, clearly not enough ground staff from Swissport at that time, we waited 15 mins on the A/C whilst for someone to open the terminal doors...when we got off a quick walk to immigration, which was quiet so through in 5 mins.
I noticed more e gates now in use...but still a very small area for the amount of Ryanair arrivals in close succession during the late evenings...this area needs expanding when the budget allows it!
I only had hand luggage so walked straight to the train station...via the filthy and dirty skylink! It's looking very tired at the moment and I get the impression no cleaning at all is done here, given that it looked exactly the same 3 days later when I departed MAN...stains/marks in the same areas...but I could say the same for T1...a deep clean really is needed, especially given the fact that MAG have stated that Covid cleaning measures are still in place...I fail to see where?!

On return to MAN on Monday for my flight back to Carcassonne, I entered T1 check in area at 11.30am, fairly busy for checking in bags, security A was closed, according to the website the average wait was 15-30 mins. We were asked to go downstairs to security B...this was busy but was through in 15 mins without any of my 2 trays being rejected! But there were at least 8 trays on the lane I was in alone, that were rejected!
Within the security area I noticed a lot more staff than my previous visits this year...many were in a light blue vest...I assume new starts/in training? But I found all staff pleasant and professional and sensed a more relaxed approach, with enough staff to deal with the amount of passengers.
Walked to T3 to wait around the gate areas near 52/53 were it was slightly quieter...boarding from gate 51 on schedule with an on-time departure too.

 

[LS@MAN]

Further to my above post...something I only noticed on Friday in the T3 baggage hall...there are only 3 carousals and a new wall has appeared.
This was the first time arriving in T3 for me since around end of 2019...not great when you have 5/6 Ryanair arrivals within 30 mins each evening! But hey, what do management care!

 

[LS@MAN]

Here is my latest trip report and observations from my trip through MAN arriving Friday 29th April and departing Sunday 1st May.

Landed at 12.15pm into T3 with Ryanair, ground staff were there thankfully, so no delay in getting off the aircraft. There were 2 other Ryanair arrivals around the same time, passport control was busy but constantly moving, I had only hand luggage so I was outside by 12.35pm. All good 🙂

Back to the airport at 2.30pm on Sunday in T2. I had luggage this time, so spent 30mins queuing at the Air France/KLM desks to drop my luggage off, this is due to the airlines still requiring the checking of covid passes, due to the French and Dutch government requirements.
Security was quiet, with 2 lanes open, took about 10mins, staff friendly and helpful.
T2 itself was busy, lots of Jet2 departures both from T2 legacy and Pier A. But this led to a lack of seating available, especially as the bars were full and not all are open yet (due to staff shortages I assume).
Bins overflowing with rubbish, floors and seating dirty, complete neglect in a brand new facility, I didn't expect anything else from MAG!! I didn't see 1 cleaner during my 3hrs in T2...I don't know who the cleaning company is, but no doubt budgets have been cut!

We departed from Gate A11 in Pier A at 5.30pm...only my 2nd time in this Pier, it's a nice change from T1 & T3 and it was only our flight and a KLM flight using the Pier at this particular time, so nice and relaxed (and quiet!). But you can see lots have been done on the cheap, I noticed after passing the desks for your Passport & boarding pass checks, the walk to the airbridge down the stairs feels so temporary or portacabin like (if that makes sense). The floor in the Pier isn't the right kind of material to last so many years, I don't know what the lifespan of the Pier is intended to be, but no doubt lots of materials will require changing in the not too distant future!

I just hope improvements will be made for the future, especially as the next Pier is due to open within the next 2 years!

My next trip is an overdue holiday, so will be departing from T2 with TUI on 18th May, arriving at the airport around 3am (dreading the first wave departure queues already!).

 

[lfc84]

I am going to guess the enaswer is "No" but.... Is it possible to transfer airside from a T1 domestic arrival to a T3 domestic departure ? hand baggage only, onward boarding pas alreday on my phone

 

[Scottie Dog]

I suspect not as I believe that T1 domestic arrivals are dropped at the "Common Travel" - Irish - arrivals door which leads directly to baggage claims. Definitely needs confirming by someone more up-to-date than me though.

 

[KARFA]

I am going to guess the enaswer is "No" but.... Is it possible to transfer airside from a T1 domestic arrival to a T3 domestic departure ? hand baggage only, onward boarding pas alreday on my phone

Depends, what airline? If arriving on Loganair on that corridor between T1 and T3 you can just walk along that corridor to T3.

If it is someone else in to T1, so EI/U2, then no you can't as you are taken to the baggage hall as @Scottie Dog notes.

 

[lfc84]

U2 arrival. So I reclear security in T3. Thanks for the replies

 

[paully]

Arrived back in Manchester T1 yesterday on an Easyjet flight from Gibraltar. It has picked up a 1.5 hour delay downroute so arrived in and among 3 others..We were met by an impressive array of Dnata vehicles and personnel. Quickly disembarked (good crew). For once Border Force were well staffed as well as the E Gates working(always go to a desk, cant fathom those e gates but thats just me)..No delays. Place did look clean and tidy and saw cleaning staff at work airside...Baggage was subject to a slight delay due to so many incoming but again Dnata staff in attendance. From Touchdown to leaving T1 was 45mins, which is good..

The arrivals part was working fine yesterday, so praise where its due.

 

[tomrhodes28]

Arrived back in Manchester T1 yesterday on an Easyjet flight from Gibraltar. It has picked up a 1.5 hour delay downroute so arrived in and among 3 others..We were met by an impressive array of Dnata vehicles and personnel. Quickly disembarked (good crew). For once Border Force were well staffed as well as the E Gates working(always go to a desk, cant fathom those e gates but thats just me)..No delays. Place did look clean and tidy and saw cleaning staff at work airside...Baggage was subject to a slight delay due to so many incoming but again Dnata staff in attendance. From Touchdown to leaving T1 was 45mins, which is good..

The arrivals part was working fine yesterday, so praise where its due.

We didn't have a good experience coming back into MAN Sunday morning just gone. Landed in MAN T2 to find we were assigned to a bus gate in which there was no bus or stairs just a marshaller. 20 minutes had passed until the stairs arrived, then another 20 mins for the bus to arrive. Got through border force in 15 minutes, but then had to wait 3 hours for our suitcases to turn up due to having the incorrect ramp for the Boeing 757 available.

 

[Land23R]

Posted this also on another forum which may be of interest.

Just a report on our experience at MAN with TUI flights to Palma and return.
Departure was on Monday 6th June with an SDT of 06.30.
The check-in queue in T2 extended back some distance into the Skylink and the whole process took exactly an hour.
It appeared that only one of the standard desks was in use and that for premium passengers. For the rest, as you emerged from the 9 'lanes' holding the queues, there were 3 parts to the process. Initially 4 or 5 staff were waiting to check passports and Covid passes as it was to Spain. Then it was round to the next section to the self check-in machines where a member of staff came to assist. Bags weighed and PMI stickers attached. Finally, it was a short 4 or 5 yard walk to place cases on a belt.

Security queues extended back into the main T2X and round into the next zone - F I think. However, it moved fairly steadily and the process took 50 minutes. From what I could see, 5 lanes were open, including 1 & 2 which I assumed were fast track, plus 4, 7 and 8. There was no shouting, pushing or aggro. and the staff we encountered were pleasant and helpful.

The aircraft pushed back at 07.20, 50 minutes late, and the pilot in apologising for the delay, mentioned the Cleaners hadn't turned up when they should.

So, in normal circumstances, those waiting times would be far from acceptable, but in the current climate were better than some that have been reported and less than we feared.

Just to add that it took 75 minutes for our cases to arrive after parking at an airbridge stand at Palma.

The return yesterday, the 13th, required no complaints. Pushed back at PMI on the dot at 19.20 their time, arrived on stand 104 at T2X 3 minutes early at 20.57. It's a fair walk even from that stand to Border Control but the 2 sections of travellator were working! Plenty of e-gates open with no delays and the first cases came through in 30 minutes from on stand, our own 5 minutes or so later. I accept it was probably a good time of the evening to arrive, not having the surge that can happen at periods between 22.00 and 02.00.

 

[Finger66]

Flew to SUF on Saturday aboard TUI Max8 TUMO.

Having arrived at T2 meet and greet just a little after 0230, having purchased fast track when the holiday was booked at a time when security horror stories were rife, we sailed through security in around 10 minutes or so. The one drawback being there wasn’t much open the other side until around 0400 so a bit of time killing was necessary. Suitable refreshment was subsequently then obtained though!

Flight boarded on time and after waiting for a couple of bags to be offloaded we pushed back at 0621 and were airborne at 0637. Official departure time was 0600. Very smooth flight with excellent staff and service and landed in SUF at 1017 - just 2 minutes late and on stand for 1020.

Laid on the sun bed by 1400.

Whilst MAN is not my local airport, after all the bad press that airlines and airports have endured this year, all I can say is our experience was nothing but a pleasant one and hope it is a sign that the industry continues to go in the right direction following the pandemic.

 

[CM.]

Whilst MAN is not my local airport, after all the bad press that airlines and airports have endured this year, all I can say is our experience was nothing but a pleasant one and hope it is a sign that the industry continues to go in the right direction following the pandemic.

I also traveled through Manchester Airport on Saturday however my experience was totally different.

I used T1 (Easyjet) and the check in was rammed (which I would expect with it being Saturday) however you were queue outside without knowing what was going on and it was very disorganized with no communication from staff to tell us what was going on.

Security was busy however it moved fast enough and wasn’t to bad so I can defend them on that.

Some good points on the return from last night- Passport control was nice and fast and was out of the airport in ten minutes.

A tip if you’re flying from Amsterdam (Leave plenty of time as it took me 4 hrs to get through security there most people missing flights as a result- I was lucky as the pilot managed to get another crew to do a Copenhagen flight)

 

[LS@MAN]

Flew to Frankfurt last Sunday (11th Dec) with Lufthansa from T1.
After using T2 for the past few months, I had forgotten how small the check in area in T1 is! But what has helped is the Easyjet desks have now been moved to near door 1 (far left side of the hall). Previously they were next to the security A entrance which caused a bottleneck at times!
Security was around 15/20 mins wait...no big problem, around 7/8 lanes open.
Once through it was fairly busy but no big queues in any of the shops or F&B outlets.

I was watching the aircraft movements from near Starbucks and happened to see the Gulf Air 787 taxiing back onto stand 31, so decided to walk down to the end of Pier C and found that Swissport had forgotten to load 2 passengers onto the aircraft, but their luggage was onboard! (I overheard the conversation between these passengers and the ground staff).
But I think Swissport and Menizes were struggling with a staff shortage/lack of training by the sounds of it on this day...I noticed a TAP flight docked onto stand 27 and had to sit and wait with engines on for about 10 mins until the ground power was connected and then a further 10 mins wait for the airbridge and ground team.
Next door the Turkish A330 on stand 29 (Swissport) seemed to take an age to be loaded, but only 2/3 ground staff performing the job...this service never seems to depart on time!

My flight arrived late, so therefore we departed late (around 50 mins) due to staffing issues at Frankfurt, so we know it's not only Manchester still suffering!

My last trip through MAN until 5th Jan, when I will arrive from Brussels with Ryanair into T3.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023!

 

[LS@MAN]

Happy belated New Year to everyone and all the best for 2023!

Two recent visits to the airport.

Landed at T1 on Thursday 5th Jan from Malaga with Easyjet at 13:20, docked at gate 7, straight off the aircraft, no queue at passport control, 5 min for case and out in 15 mins!
Excellent service, especially from DHL (Easyjet!).

Departed T3 on Sunday 8th Jan with BA to Heathrow. Had checked in online, but had a case to drop off...1hr 20 min wait to do this!! 2 staff from Menzies were on check in...I really didn't expect this despite arriving 2hrs prior to departure!
Security was a breeze...departure area relatively busy...no seats until near the gate area of 49.
Went to my boarding gate of 143 and finally there are seats for flights departing from this gate and 142 (always used by BA).
Departed 1hr late due to the late arrival of the aircraft from LHR.

So good experiences once again, with the exception of the BA check in due to lack of Menzies staff.
T3 departures area after security is too cramped, even now so I dread using it during the summer...is there any room for improvement here, as in extending this area?

Next trip is back into T3 this coming Friday (20th) with BA arriving from LHR at 16:20 and with no case this time, so hopefully a quicker experience!

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Try the upstairs seating area in T3 - go up in the lift. They call it 'The Hangar' - plenty of seating, cracking views of the primary runway, and departure screens to keep track of your flight. This space is the former BA lounge, but it's just additional seating for any passenger to use now. Nice spot to await the flight.

 

[LS@MAN]

Yea of

Try the upstairs seating area in T3 - go up in the lift. They call it 'The Hangar' - plenty of seating, cracking views of the primary runway, and departure screens to keep track of your flight. This space is the former BA lounge, but it's just additional seating for any passenger to use now. Nice spot to await the flight.

Yes of course! I completely forgot about this new seating area to be honest, definitely will try out next time I’m in T3.

Initially there were announcements made about this area, but nothing last week when I was there, didn’t notice any signage either, but maybe it was me being half asleep 🙁

 

[LS@MAN]

Hi All,

Arrived Friday evening from Frankfurt on stand 29 at 22:40, straight off aircraft, no queue at passport control and luggage was already on the carousel, out of the airport by 23:00!
Well done MAN & Dnata!

Flying out today from T2 with Brussels airlines, no check in or security queue through both in minutes. Never seen T2 so quiet! Plenty of seating thankfully…although due to the quiet time of year lots of places in the terminal closed. Normally I can’t get a seat in the Bridgwater, but today the window area is closed off, typical!
Anyway it makes you appreciate how vast the extension of T2 actually is! Will make a huge difference to the overall airport experience for passengers come 2025 when everything is completed and T1 closes!

 

[LS@MAN]

My latest trip to MAN:
Arrived Friday 3rd March with Air France landing at 9.45am on 05R...a nice change flying over the Cheshire countryside, so a long taxi to our parking stand 101...the captain felt the need to announce over the PA once we had parked, that our arrival at the gate was 7 minutes behind schedule due to waiting for aircraft to taxi in front of us.
This was true...we held at L2 adjacent to stand 25 at T1, whilst 5 different aircraft were taxiing out to 05L...plenty more of this to come during the summer!
But...whilst waiting on the taxiway I noticed some demolition in progress on the land in between Pier B and the STS hanger...the continuation of the dual taxiway system by the looks of it...can't come quicker enough!
Arrival was fine, only 10 mins from leaving the aircraft until I was outside arrivals...only observation I heard from a fellow passenger "there aren't enough urinals in the toilets just before immigration" but I have heard the same complaints ref the toilets at check in as well.

Departure from T3 with Ryanair on Sunday 5th March. Arrived at 6.30am, 5 security lanes open, 15 mins waiting. I had a nosey on the airport's website and noticed it was 15-30mins waiting time across all 3 terminals during that time.
Security officer asking people to get off their phones, despite signs up informing passengers they can use their phones, but not to make calls.
A nice add on in the security queue is the bowl like items placed around the lanes with liquid bags in them...and their certainly a generous size bag too!
Airside for a coffee and then boarded from gate 48 at 8.00am for a 8.45am departure...all very efficient, flight was around 95% full and we departed 5mins early.

Overall: nice, pleasant staff from immigration to security and customer services to ground handling, and more importantly plenty of them!
But I won't be looking forward to flying from T3 during the summer months and will avoid is possible.

My next trip to MAN is on Thursday 30th March this time arriving in T3 on the Irish harp!